YuGiOh! GX: Spirit Caller
by americancheeze
Summary: Kaigen Kou, a student with a troubled past appears and joins Slifer Red alongside Jaden and Syrus. There he finds things he desperately needs: friendship, passion for the game, and more. However, pain and sorrow lurk around the corner. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Here we are, the last revision to my original Spirit Caller fic that I'm going to do. This is a revision to the extent of being a nearly complete rewrite of the original story. Like the original it combines the continuity of the GX anime and manga with the Spirit Caller video game, which featured the player going through the game as an original character. If you have read the first revision "Spirit Chronicles" or seen the short-lived visual novel I made then you have already seen the first half of this first chapter. However, the second part (starting at "Meanwhile Across the Arena") is drastically different. How different? A character introduced in the revision is no longer in this chapter and a completely different opponent is the one faced by the OC (Kaigen Kou) instead. An opponent fans of the original and the revision should know pretty well. :)

Episode One: "They Who Inherit the Game"

As I strolled down the streets of Dice City, I gazed up at the local branch of Kaiba Corp. The enormous building was obviously designed to stand out and it loomed over the rest of the town, like an arm raised in victory. To me however, it held little meaning. I was too caught up in the sights that carried no meaning for most, the only ones that mattered to me. They were just random locations around town, places I'd heard tales of from my foster folks. They were just places really, the kind you find anywhere. A street corner, a reservoir, an alley, all totally mundane things. It was what had once happened in those places that I really cared about.  
Supposedly it was in those very places that my dad had dueled great matches during the Battle City Qualifiers many years ago. Walking around those normal places and watching the handful of street duelists paying homage by dueling there brought me some peace of mind. Even if I had never seen those duels, or met the man; he had left a mark. Even though the mark on the world was a small one, it was enough to confirm that he existed. At the time, I could only wonder what it was like dueling in my father's days, with danger around every corner and the stakes on every match being higher than the last. It had been a time when all you had to put your faith in was your cards and your friends.  
A hand went to my deck at the thought and I could only frown. I had no friends to trust or any faith in the simple pieces of cardboard that formed my deck. All I had was my own skill, and not even the vaguest idea how they compared to my dads.

"Hey you, Blondie, wanna duel?" my eyes drifted to the source of the comment, a street duelist who'd just gotten done finishing off an opponent.

My eyes drifted to the source of the comment, a street duelist who'd just gotten done finishing off an opponent. I shook my head, my expression remaining cold, and I put forth a half-hearted impersonation of a person who cared about anything that guy had to say, "Sorry, I'm already late for my entrance exams as it is. Maybe next time."

"Another academy wanna be? Gonna be the next King of Games or something?"

I pushed up my glasses and turned to conceal the fact I was rolling my eyes, "Nope, who cares about titles as long as you keep getting stronger in both deck and skill. Duel Monsters is all about meeting the next duelist head on, searching for someone else to push your limits."

"Amen to that brother! The name's Mark Atlas, I'll make sure we duel the next time we meet!"

I smiled and waved, then dropped the facade as I moved on. It wasn't until several moments later that I realized just how late I actually was. In fact, I was close to missing my whole reason for coming to town. "Crap! If I don't hurry I'll miss them entirely!"

Soon after I was cutting through the garden in front of the building and fate nearly had me running full speed into a smaller and probably younger boy. The guy had thick and unkempt hair, accompanied by a seemingly chronic smile that claimed total confidence. Judging by his appearance, he was probably one of those poor unfortunate souls whose mother called them 'Muffin'. He probably didn't have any shortage of people treating him like a kid brother. Muffinman seemed to give off that kind of vibe.

Of course Muffin noticed me rather quickly and seemed relieved, "Oh hey! I'm Jaden Yuki, you a duelist too? What's your name?"

It was then I spotted the duel disk on the kid's arm that labeled him as a fellow hopeful. I went ahead and offered a hand in friendship. Couldn't hurt anything right? "Kaigen Kou, and if you want to duel you'll have to wait until after entrance exams."

Jaden donned an embarrassed grin, "Yeah, I'm running late too. I thought this was a shortcut but I can't hop this wall. Maybe we could help each other out? You give me a boost and I'll help you climb up."

Yep, there was definitely a wall there. Not too tall, but taller than one person could hope to jump. We'd have to take this route to make it on time, "Sure, just make sure you don't drop me."

It was one of those times where my size was annoying. Even though I was only a year older than him, I was practically a whole foot taller and he was still in that wiry stage of youth, while I was just out of that. So of course I'd be giving the boost... and relying on him afterward. It bugged me, but like I said there was no choice.

I bent down, then cupped my hands together in the standard position, "Hurry up, we don't have a lot of time."  
"Right. Here I go."  
Placing one foot in my hands he stepped up as I pushed off the ground with my legs. I couldn't see from my position, but I heard the sound of flesh on metal as he grabbed the handrail above and pulled himself up, "Hey! Two more applicants here! We'll be right there!"  
"Stop moving around so much!" I grumbled.

Even though he wasn't really all that heavy, all of that weight was wiggling around like crazy. The kid was probably waving or something to get their attention before climbing up. Honestly though, if it weren't for him calling out that there were two applicants, I would have expected him to leave me there. Actually, to be totally honest I was still a little surprised when he reached for me and helped me climb up, but thanks to that teamwork, we managed to make it into the building before last call.

When we got into the arena, I'll admit I was a bit awestruck. It was a huge place, the stands able to seat hundreds if not thousands of people. They varied in population, on the other side of the arena a lot of people around my age were observing the duels while wearing blue jackets. I had to assume they were people who already got in. Near them was a sparser section of seats, occupied by faculty. The other half of the stands, the side I was on, was dotted with fellow hopefuls. The arena floor itself set up to contain a dozen duel fields, which thankfully still had some exams going on. It was applicants against Kaiba Corp duel proctors using relatively weak-looking decks.

I sighed with relief, muttering to myself, "Thank god, there's still some duels going on. I'm not too late."

Jaden motioned over to a particular field, "Hey, look there. Something big's about to go down."  
The duel has was talking about wasn't hard to spot. It was the only one going on that had any kind of energy to it, much less the feel of a duel about to swing into endgame. A studious type with smoothed back hair and a build similar to my own suffered an apparent setback in his exam. He was ahead by life points and had a fairly powerful Vorse Raider out, but he was looking at two enemy monsters. Even if he destroyed one, there would still be one left to tribute summon something stronger.  
Given the many other factors at hand though, the proctor was unduly smug, "Alright, applicant, you've got multiple choice. You've got two monsters staring you down. Do you A: Fold in the towel, B: Beg for mercy, or C: Run home to momma."

I took another look at the field, the life points of the proctor, the look on the applicant's face, and his body language. It was easy to predict what the applicant was doing as he moved to activate a card. He was going for the win, and with all the factors considered that meant a card that did direct damage. _That_ meant...  
"He's going for Ring of Destruction."

I was right on the money, the student responded to his foe's arrogance with its more polite cousin: confidence, "My answer is D, none of the above. I activate Ring of Destruction, destroying my Vorse Raider and dealing 1900 points of direct damage to both of us."

"Whoa, that guy can really throw down." Jaden noted.

A nearby kid nodded, thinking Jaden was talking to him, "Yeah, that's Bastion Misawa. They say he got the highest score on the written exam out of all us applicants."

"Wow, I barely passed mine." Jaden was clearly impressed.

"Yeah me too. I get terrible test anxiety."

Jaden turned to me, noticing I was staring at a paper from my pocket that bore my own test scores, "So how'd you do Kaigen? Since you called that play right I bet you got a pretty good score!"

I stashed the paper quickly. There was no need for them to know I was different from them, "Let's just say that I'm impressed he managed to score so high and leave it at that."

Jaden chuckled, wrapping his arms around me and the blue-haired shorty, "Don't worry about it guys, it's the duels that really matter." He smiled wide at the boy with an expression that carried more energy than I thought a human could have, "Nice to meet ya. I'm Jaden, this is Kaigen."

I fought back a sigh. To me it seemed like I was roped into being friends with these two random people. It could be worse, even I had to admit that much, "You guys can just call me Kai."

"Right," the boy nodded, "My name is Syrus."

Jaden slipped his deck into his duel disk, "I wonder what the proctors duel like. I bet I could show 'em some real moves!"

"Um, you guys haven't taken your duel exams yet?"

"No, why?"

"I think that was supposed to be the last one."

"What? They have to let us duel!"

Dang it all! I'd screwed up! My dwelling on the past had cost me the future. What was I going to do if I couldn't get into Duel Academy? I'd come all the way from the United States specifically to see where I was born and get into a duel school in my father's homeland, but... that dream was over. Tickets to and from Japan are expensive. We'd had to save up to afford it. I had no money to get back or afford a place to stay much longer in Japan. If I didn't get in...

My attention was suddenly pulled over to the faculty section when I saw something almost as bad as failing to get in. At least for my pride. One of the staff, very frilly one at that, was reacting almost cartoonishly to a phone call. I had my suspicions as to who it was and whatever was being said annoyed the androgynous instructor enough that after the call he prepared to duel. One of us at least was going to get a duel, if not both of us, but we'd apparently be facing a full time instructor. I didn't know about Jaden, but I had little doubt that I could win.

"Would Kaigen Kou and Jaden Yuki please head to the duel arena for their duel evaluations." the speaker system announced.

Jaden was psyched, "Yeah, that's more like it!"

Syrus was perplexed, "I was pretty sure that was going to be the last one..."

"Apparently they are a bit forgiving to students running late." I promptly deflected the issue, even though I probably didn't need to, and headed for the duel field.

On the way, we passed by Bastion Misawa and Jaden stopped to chat, "Sweet duel Bastion, I'd say you're the second best duelist here!"

I didn't bother stopping, "Third best. Then again everyone but Syrus thinks their the best."

That comment had probably embarrassed Syrus, but I simply ignored that and went into the duel area.

* * *

**Meanwhile, Across the Arena**

"Professor Crowler, you can't be serious." I protested, stepping in his path, "These are Duel Academy hopefuls, you can't just crush them with your real deck like this. You could traumatize them enough to make them quit dueling altogether!"

The vindictive man smiled slightly, but it was not amusement. It was arrogance. It made me a little sick to my stomach, "Good. If they are such slackers that they can't do something so simple as be on time, then they don't deserve to be called duelists. If they somehow do manage to win, then they deserve to get in and the measure of fame that the victory will earn them." His smile grew even larger, "That is precisely why I am enlisting your services in that matter."

That had me even more surprised and I had to protest again, "But sir... I haven't lost a single duel in over ten years!"

"Precisely, Professor Hibiki, I won't let your personal history with Mr. Yuki affect my judgment and I know that you value your reputation and professional integrity too much to compromise the results. Surely you understand that these boys must be taught a lesson. Would you rather I be the one to teach it to both of them?"

I glanced over to the two teens across the way as they descended the stairs to the arena. I'd known Jaden since he met my brother in the hospital around ten years before. He was so much taller than when I'd last seen him, but still had the same playful energy he always had. The other was more serious, cold even. Except for that expression and his lighter hair color, he bared an uncanny resemblance to Dai Kou, a skilled local duelist that disappeared from the public eye a long time ago. The teen was tall with a strong build, strong build, short blond hair, glasses, and a bit of 'peach fuzz' showing that the teen had not bothered to shave that morning.

I didn't have much choice other than to agree, though I'll to a bit of curiosity, "Fine. If you feel that strongly about it then I'll do it."

"Very good. I expect an honest performance from you, Professor Hibiki."

"You will get one." I replied respectfully, but not happily.

My name is Midori Hibiki. Technically I have a doctorate, but I'm not actually that fond of adding the title to my name. It has always seemed a bit too arrogant for my taste. Regardless, I serve as the headmaster for first year students at one of three dorms at Central Duel Academy. Prof. Crowler, unfortunately, is the Vice Chancellor of the entire school and my boss.

Despite that, and my being the lowest ranked headmaster, I love my job. Looking over the freshmen Slifer Reds is rewarding work. It;s incredibly satisfying to help those who barely got into the school grow strong enough to advance to a higher dorm. Why else would I want to be a teacher than to teach those who had a passion for the game, but needed to learn more?  
That's why Prof. Crowler's mentality always got on my nerves. He only wanted the best candidates for the school and I don't get the point in that. Why teach people who don't need as many lessons and exclude those who both **want** and _need_ to learn?  
However, seeing the two applicants, I could tell my earlier concern had been unfounded. Since he clearly still had the same passion for the game, Jaden could probably beat Crowler even if he hadn't improved at all since I'd last watched him play. Even though Crowler was a skilled duelist that deserved most of the praise he received; he was also presuming he would win easily, and going in unprepared against a prodigy like Jaden could only result in defeat. Make no mistake, the Jaden I had met years before was unmistakably a prodigy.

The other, Kaigen, had the same piercing and analytical eyes that Dai had had in his time. It was clear to me what kind of duelist he was, and if I was right any other proctor would probably lose before he knew what was going on. He was facing me though; and I was not about to underestimate someone from the Kou family, someone that looked and carried himself so much like Dai. Not that Dai was a legend of anything, but putting him among simple prodigies would have been a disservice. Simple prodigies don't debut in a tournament like Battle City and dominate them. Simple prodigies aren't matches for Egyptian God cards, nor do they retire with their only losses being to the King of Games himself. Mere prodigies don't defeat the man who invented the game in two turns. Even if Kaigen was only a fraction as good as Dai Kou, I was in for a pretty good fight.

Anyway, the the two exams would be taking place on opposite sides of the arena in order to minimize distractions. I couldn't even see Crowler or Jaden once I entered the cordoned off area that my duel with Kaigen was going to take place. The teen was there and shuffling his deck already when I rounded the corner and I waited for him to slot it into his duel disk before I introduced myself.

I took my deck from the pouch at my belt and did my own shuffling as I called out, "Hello. I'm Professor Midori Hibiki. I'll be administering your duel exam."

He looked up, and for some reason his cold expression vanished, replaced almost explosively with a look of surprise. Maybe he'd heard of me?

When he didn't say anything, I continued, "Don't worry about winning or losing, just duel your best. All this is is an assessment of your dueling level. It's hard to fail, but scoring higher is still better. Understand?"

He calmed a bit, but still stammered, "Y-yeah."

"It's standard rules, but we'll only be using 4000 life points, so I recommend you play your traps and spells well. It doesn't take long to lose that much life."

He nodded. I never thought 4000 life was fair, but it does give a good idea how well-tuned a deck is, and usually the decks used to test hopefuls were so weak that 4000 life points wasn't too big of a deal. This time was different though. Crowler and I were using our real decks, decks that could take out 4000 life points pretty quickly if given an opening. Jaden and Kaigen would have to play hard if they wanted to win. On many occasions I had dealt more than that on my first turn.

Looking at my opponent, my earlier confidence in him sank slightly. I wasn't sure why, but his focus seemed to be almost entirely gone. If he didn't snap out of it I'd sweep him under the table.

* * *

**Kaigen's Perspective**

I'd quickened my step, gotten to the duel field ahead of my opponent, and started shuffling to center my thoughts. I knew I could rely on my logic and ability to read my opponents to win. Frankly I wasn't expecting much challenge even from professors using their real decks. It doesn't take a genius to know that arrogance is that arrogance is the quickest way to loose, but that was a weakness I was going to exploit, not fall into. As long as I stayed on top of my game and used all my tools to the fullest, I would win.

All that went out the window when an incredibly bright and welcoming voice reached my ears and pull my attention up to the source before my conscious mind had even fully processed the sound. I wasn't at all prepared for my opponent after all. I'm pretty sure there was a flash of light... a very pleasant flash of light. I almost flinched, like one does when a light is turned on suddenly or someone unexpectedly takes your picture. Yet it was as if I was staring into the gates of heaven, I could not peel my eyes away. Soon the light faded. No, it was more like my eyes adjusted to it. What is that? I wondered. It took me a moment to even begin to comprehend what such a thing of god-like majesty could be. It was was a smile, a beautiful, glorious smile. A thousand supernovas could not compare to it. There were beautiful eyes too, a soft brown that was almost like a hug given an alternate form. The face... yes the face, my mind finally gained enough understanding of the sight to process more than just fragments of it. Smooth supple and infinitely expressive features, the face of a goddess with a caring big sister air about her. My mind computing the entire being at last. She was tall and lithe, curvy in all the right places. A body looked like it would fit in your arms perfectly, like no other living creature – celestial or no – could ever give an embrace as complete and blissful as hers would be. After taking that all in, it took me a moment longer to see the world around her again. In that one fraction of an instant, my entire universe was utterly destroyed and remade with her at the very center. So sudden was this experience, that I nearly fainted right then and there.

I barely heard what she said next, though I noticed her smile turn to concern, "Don't worry about winning or losing, just duel your best. All this is is an assessment of your dueling level. It's hard to fail, but scoring higher is still better. Understand?"

She thought I was nervous. Which wasn't entirely untrue, "Y-yeah."

The professor smiled again, nearly destroying my universe all over again, "It's standard rules, but we'll only be using 4000 life points, so I recommend you play your traps and spells well. It doesn't take long to lose that much life."

I barely managed a nod. I couldn't understand it but for some reason I had lost all feeling in my body except for my circulatory system, probably because my heart was beating so fast and pumping blood through it at incredible speeds. I couldn't even think straight. Instead of running through strategies and going over scenarios of battles in my head; it was a battle to not fantasize about running through a field of flowers into her arms. Trying to think of Duel Monsters merely added a weird part to the daydream where we danced and frolicked in a rain of Duel Monster plushies.

Dang it_, Kaigen, focus! _I kicked myself mentally,_ You don't do frolicking! You have to focus on the duel or your dreams will stay dreams! Wait... when did I draw my starting hand? Crap! I'm so screwed!_

The goddess seemed concerned and confused about my behavior again, but moved on, "You may take the first turn, Mr. Kou."

"R-right." I looked down at my cards and pushed everything unneeded from my mind. It was hard, but I had no choice. The cards in my hand was excellent, one of the main strategies of the deck was right there. Glancing up though, I found myself not wanting to win using it. It wasn't cool enough... Regardless, "I set two cards, and then summon Harvest Angel of Wisdom."

An angelic trumpeter with silver wings coming from the thighs of its golden armor appeared on the field in a flash of light. Not that it matters, but the art was clearly a reference to the Greek messenger god Hermes and his winged sandals. It had a fairly good 1800 attack so I was about to end my turn. Honestly, I wasn't not playing as hard as I really should have been, but the crowd caught my attention just in time to stop that suicidal behavior.

"Oh my God, are those two professors really doing the last exams? Professor Crowler has that incredibly powerful rare card right?"

"Yeah, but it's even worse for the other guy. Nobody's ever beaten Professor Hibiki, and she's dueled World Champions!"

That bit of news knocked the rest of the nonsense out of my head. I was facing a duelist capable of taking the World title? There was no room for stumbling around and rampaging teenage hormones, "Lastly, I play the field spell The Sanctuary in the Sky!" A hologram slowly formed around the duel field, one depicting the typical clouds and Greek architecture seen in depictions of heaven, "While this card is on the field the controller of a fairy type monster doesn't take damage from battles involving that monster. Turn end."

Suddenly, the crowd, who could see through the hologram, made a ruckus as if I had made a grave error. As Professor Hibiki started her turn, I found out why. She smiled and drew a card, "Well, this should be interesting. We both play fairies."

"Crap."

I must have had a comical look on my face because for a brief second the professor looked even more amused. The look on her face was incredibly cute to me that I almost forgot I was supposed to be trying to defeat her. For a moment I wondered if that kind of thing was what made her hard to beat, but that thought would be corrected pretty much right away.

"I activate the continuous spell card Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen." as she played the spell, a Greek throne room appeared behind her. "As you probably know, once per turn this spell allows me to special summon a fairy-type monster as long as I don't control a monster. I summon one of my most powerful monsters: Fallen Angel Asmodeus!" from a pillar of smoke rose a dark angel in a long white robed and black armor. There was also no ignoring the 3000 attack points. "I use his effect to send one fairy-type monster from my deck to the grave. I choose Fallen Angel Superbia!" the card popped out of her deck and she slipped it into the graveyard slot of her duel disk, "I hope you'll see him again, but I don't intend on going easy on you."

Staring at the powerful angel in front of me, I looked back at my opponent, "This... this really should be interesting. Just like you said."

"Good to see I've gotten you snapped out of that daze you were in." She smiled, "Let's see if you've got a trap for me. I attack Harvest Angel with Fallen Angel Asmodeus! Darkness Ascent!"

The dark angel rushed forward and struck my own angel with a vicious uppercut that utterly obliterated it. However, "I don't take any damage thanks to the Sanctuary spell."

"Just testing the waters." the teacher smiled as she set two cards. There was something in her body language, I couldn't say exactly what, but just something in the way she was acting gave me a gut feeling that a moment of thought about her play reinforced. Especially when she declared, "I end my turn with two face-down cards."

I stared at her intently, weighing many thoughts in my head as a spoke as I tried to figure out her motivations, "You _are_ going easy on me."

She looked up, more curious about the statement that surprised, "Oh?"

"At least I'm pretty sure you are." though I wasn't sure how she meant it, whether she was just trying to give me a chance or looking down on me. It didn't seem to be the latter, "I mean, you never normal summoned, and I can tell you have something in your hand to summon. You could have landed a direct attack."

"I didn't want to walk into a trap."

"Maybe, but you sent _that_ at me didn't you?"

She grinned, "It's a special case."

That put a bit of fear in me, "A 3000 point attacker that benefits from traps, but doesn't stop them..."

She looked at me, as if enjoying my efforts to discern the effect of her monster.

"It must benefit from being destroyed."

The professor smiled, "You're a pretty sharp one, Mr. Kou."

I drew a card to begin my turn and thought over my cards. Not just the ones in my hand, but the ones in my deck. I looked at her body language again and thought back to how she had acted right before and during the time she placed her two face-downs. Finally, I spoke, "You... you are terrifyingly strong."

Professor Hibiki was quick to reply with a friendly quip. "Sadly there are no extra points for compliments. What is your move?"

"I don't have much time, and can't count on getting something to get rid of that without triggering its effect, so I'll have to go another route."

"And that is?"

I pulled a spell from my hand and activated it, "The spell card 'Card Destruction' both of us discard our entire hands and draw the same number of cards." I did so discarding and then drawing three cards. An effect triggered in my graveyard, "Because I sent Radiant Jeral to my graveyard while Sanctuary in the Sky is on the field, I gain 1000 life points."

Kaigen: 5000 vs Midori: 4000

So did she, discarding three and drawing three, "Fair warning, Mr. Kou, I benefit a lot from that discard."

"No, not this time." I motioned to one of my face-downs, "I activate the trap card Disgraceful Charity. We both return to our hands every card we discarded this turn due to the effect of a spell." the three we had each discarded returned to our hands, "After that, I set one face down, and then set a monster. Lastly, I activate a continuous spell card of my own: Dark Room of Nightmare. Every time I deal effect damage this spell inflicts an extra 300. That's all for this turn."

"A burn deck? I wasn't expecting that. Makes since though considering the format." The professor eyed my face-downs suspiciously then drew a card to start her turn.

It was then that I pounced, "Before you can act, I _react!_ The trap card Secret Barrel deals damage to you equal to 200 times the number of cards on your field and in your hand. Thanks to Disgraceful Charity and Card Destruction, that means you take 2000 points of damage!"

"Gah!" the professor's life points were cut in half by the move, then went further down from my Dark Room spell, "Urk!"

Kaigen: 5000 vs Midori: 1700

The sounds of the other duel coming to a climax thundered through the barriers between myself and Jaden, both the physical and holographic ones. I couldn't see it, but the crowd revealed the basics with their shouting, "What the? He actually won? How can that kid be so strong?"

I was stunned. That goofball Jaden hadn't been all talk.

My opponent smiled, "That's Jaden for you. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. That was a good combination. We don't even cover stuff of that caliber until the last semester of freshman year. You panicked a bit though. It's easy to tell that new face-down you set isn't going to stop my attack or do anything to my monsters. So I summon another dark angel, Dark Valkyria!" As she said, another dark angel in armor came to the field in a swirl of black smoke. It had 1800 attack. "You also set that Radiant Jeral that came back to your hand so when I destroy it you'll get 1000 more life points. Solid play. Very solid. I attack it with Asmodeus." the professor, of course, called it right, the monster shattered and I gained 1000 life, "This time I won't make the mistake of holding back. Dark Valkyria direct attacks."

The lady angel swooped in and slapped me directly across the face for 1800 damage, "Ack!"

She moved with notably more sharpness and aggression, likely realizing she would lose if she let me have time to exploit the lower life points. Perhaps her pride would not allow for such a cheap win, "I set one more card face-down and then end my turn."

Cheap shots was all I could do against such a force though, "As you end your turn I activate a continuous trap card: Ominous Fortunetelling! During my standby phase I pick a random card in your hand and guess whether it is a monster, trap or spell card. If I guess right, you take 700 damage and then 300 more from Dark Room of Nightmare."

She didn't have to do the math to know that I'd put a timer on the duel with that card. It had to go. The professor stayed calm though and glanced at her hand of four cards, "Not very good odds in your favor. I have four cards."

"Actually, the number of cards in your hand matters much less than you'd think." I drew and then entered the standby phase, pointing at a card, "I pick the far left card. It's a monster card."

Professor Hibiki was mildly shocked as she revealed the card and that I was right. She immediately lost 700 life, then 300 more.

Kaigen: 4200 vs Midori: 700

In a moment of arrogance, I grinned, "If you had spells, most likely you would have used them. That isn't 100% guaranteed but it tips the odds. You've also set three traps so far, lowering the odds that you have more traps in your hand. You seem to have a deck built around getting larger monsters to the field fast, so the odds of creature lingering in your hand goes up. Also, decks normally have 50% more monsters than any other card. I have confirmed at least one of those four cards is a monster. Now, unless you play it or don't play any more cards I can just say monster again and most likely be right."

She froze momentarily, taken aback by the analysis. The instructor seemed conflicted, "If I don't win on my next turn, you probably will on yours."

Unfortunately, I knew I couldn't win. I'd provoked her. Her expression turning into a certain kind of smile confirmed it. I wasn't going quietly though, I pulled the card I had drawn from my hand and activated the familiar spell, forming a Greek throne room behind me: Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen. "We both play fairies."

The woman's face suddenly lit up and she laughed. The expression was glorious, and I'm not sure if the radiance coming off of her right then was from my spell activation or not. "Haha! That's great. Summoning something with big enough attack could end this right here."

"Is this big enough?" I activate the Hall of the Fallen and special summoned and glowing apex of light that filled angelic gold and blue armor with bladed arms. "I special summon the strongest monster in my deck: Neo-Parshath, the Sky Paladin. Because Sanctuary in the Sky is on the field and my life points are higher than yours it gains attack and defense equal to the difference. That makes its attack 5800! I attack Dark Valkyria with Neo-Parshath, the Sky Paladin!" I smiled, "Walking right into a trap."

"You guessed right, but I don't think you quite counted on this: I discard one card to activate Infernal Flame, destroying Neo-Parshath and dealing half its attack to you as direct damage!"

"Could have been wor-" I stopped talking when the sky went dark and an avalanche of hellfire crashed onto my side of the field, I reflexively tucked and rolled in the face of such a scene, "CRAP!"

Kaigen: 1300 vs Midori: 700

Despite myself, I laughed, "Okay, that looked a lot cooler than Magic Cylinder, even though it didn't finish me."

Professor Hibiki chuckled and shrugged, "I will admit Magic Cylinder would have done better, but in cases where the counter wouldn't outright end the duel, this is better for my deck."

"I get the feeling you are about to show me why. I set a monster and then end my turn. That's all I can do. This is over. I've lost."

"Good duel though." She drew, "Even though I don't need to do this to win, I think you deserve the biggest send off I can give you right now." A smile spread across her face, "First I activate the trap card Call of the haunted reviving Fallen Angel Superbia from my graveyard, which triggers its effect. It brings a monster I discarded moments ago along with it: Fallen Angel Edeh Arae." to more dark angles appeared on the field with 2900 and 2300 attack. "Next, I can spend a normal summon to grant Dark Valkyria an effect."

"Wait, what?"

"Strange I know, but its a special case, a type of monster called a 'dual monster' because you summon it twice. By the way, the effect adds a spell counter to her that grants her 300 more attack."

The smallest of the assembled angels lifted her hand to the sky and formed a javelin made of darkness in her hand. The crowd was as astounded as I was. Professor Hibiki had four dark angels on the field, not a single one with less than 2100 attack points. I would be defeated by that kind of force even if we had started with a full 8000 life points. It got even worse though.

"It won't be having that extra boost for long though, because Dark Valkyria has a second effect, one that allows me to remove that spell counter to destroy of your monsters regardless of its level, strength, or battle position! Go! Darkness Javelin!" The angel threw the spear, impaling my set monster and shattering it. "Now, I attack you directly with everything I have!Asmodeus leads the charge!"

The four of them surged forward in formation, sweeping over me in a salvo of attacks that reduced my life points to zero many times over.

Kaigen: 0 vs Midori: 700.

Hitting the ground, the defeat sank in as the hologram of my field spell melted away. I'd failed. I wasn't going to Duel Academy. As amazing as the whole experience had been, it was as over as my dreams were. Worse still was the fact that, like I said, I had no means of finding a place to stay for more than a few days... unless I swallowed my pride and stayed with a family member I hadn't given the time of day to in years. Even in a matter of life or death, at the time I would have rather had the latter than go crawling to my uncle. Especially after failing.

I barely heard the crowd clapping, and barely felt Professor Hibiki pulling on my arm to get me to stand, "Come on, get up and take a bow. Can't you hear that applause? Not all that is Jaden's you know."

I looked around and soaked it all in. Most of the crowd was clapping. It wasn't rock concert loud of course, but they were clapping for me. I caught a couple teachers near the front noting that new batch of freshmen was abnormally strong. Standing out from it all though was Jaden right on the edge of the duel field where he'd been waiting for me to finish, cheering louder than everyone else.

I couldn't fully understand it, I turned to the professor perplexed, "I admit I did okay... but didn't I just lose?"

She chuckled, "What? Did you already forget that you didn't actually need to win the duel to pass the entrance exam? Or were you just that fixated on winning?"

I had no reply to that.

With a smile, Professor Hibiki offered a hand for me to shake, "It isn't 100% official yet, but..."

Next Chapter: Welcome to Duel Academy


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Again, reader's of the previous versions won't notice many changes in the early parts of this chapter aside from some minor tweaks, including the opening scene of this chapter being moved, some dialogue that is different because Kaigen dueled Midori last chapter, and this time there is actually a duel in this chapter. Consider this a mix of the original (which followed the anime more) and the first revision (which followed the style of the game more). Also this merges two chapters of the first revision into one longer chapter.

Episode Two: "Welcome to Duel Academy"

"Attention, students. If you look out your windows you will see your new home away from home." the pilot announced, and then chuckled when he noticed most of the former hopefuls were plastered to the windows of the helicopter as their hopes were fulfilled, "Now, now, I know your excited but please don't shove."

Leading up to our departure for Academy Island, I had assumed we were going to take a boat. After all, why fly when there's a ferry? Syrus, however, apparently really liked helicopters. The small duelist had even made the whirring noises when he first saw it before he remembered he wasn't alone. What a kid. Jaden seemed to not like the idea a lot (he'd been kinda adamant about not having a window seat), and I can sympathize. I'm not good with heights either, not in the least. In fact when I heard we were taking a helicopter to the island, I'd gone white as a sheet and wondered if I'd been cursed or something. Once we were in the air, it quickly became clear which of us were worse off.

"Oh thank god! BLEEECK!...I can't take...bleeeck...much more fly...BLUUUURGH...ing!" I managed to force out some words at the tail end of a marathon barfing session. Actually, I had spoken a few times before, but that had been mostly repeating "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" and "HIGH! HIGH!" over and over in various combinations and at several different volumes.

It would be an understatement saying that it was a relief when we finally landed and the way off was opened. Someone noticed that vomiting for an hour and a half straight had taken a lot out of me and helped me steady myself as I climbed down the stairs. I was pretty sure it was Jaden at the time, since he was sitting next to me on the ride over, but I was too out of it to know for sure. Once I had my feet on the ground though, I was left to regain my own footing. Whoever it was probably knew I wanted to conserve what little dignity I had left after that display.

I heard some people laughing at me, but I was mostly used to that from my old school. It was easy to ignore. Especially when that guy from the exams with the slicked back hair placed a hand on my shoulder and inquired about my state, "Are you alright now, friend?"

Standing up straight, I cleared my throat, "Yeah. Thanks, Bastion was it?"

Bastion nodded, "Yes, indeed, and you are Kaigen Kou. Your performance at the exams was most impressive."

"Not really." I replied, uninterested in his kind words. "I was using combinations specifically geared to take advantage of the lower life point format. Even then I still lost."

Bastion scoffed at the sentiment, "Against an opponent that, if rumors are to be believed, is the single strongest duelist in the entire school. Nearly winning against that sort of opposition is nothing to undersell."

"I didn't nearly win. She was holding back until I forced her to stop."

"Either way, you 'forced her to stop'." the teen pressed.

I shrugged, indifferent but passingly appreciative of his attempts at complimenting me. The teen's opinion mattered very little to me. In a way, Bastion immediately struck me as both very similar to me and at the same time almost totally different on some levels. He came off as a very proud person, but not actually all that confident at the core. The visual clues were all there. The careful way he spoke with perfect grammar, the neatness of his appearance, the way he spoke the compliment like he hoped for one in return. All major hints that this Bastion fellow was a perfectionist. Sure many smart people are the same, but there was subtle differences in his kind and the truly confident kind. Namely, the level of precision. Bastion's bordered on a compulsive disorder. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had a ruler in his grooming set. Oh and you can be certain he had a 'grooming set' rather than just random stuff used for grooming, like a toothbrush, comb, and disposable razor.

Not that I was one to talk about personality flaws. I was hardly the saint, habitually seeking out everything wrong about people with a critical, analyzing eye. While Bastion might have had a compulsive obsession with getting approval, my compulsion was finding reasons for me to not give it. Compulsively hating everyone is far worse than a compulsive desire to be liked, even if both were defense mechanisms created by self-consciousness. Not that I was quite that self-aware at the time.

Bastion, not knowing my thoughts, simply smiled and shrugged slightly at my behavior, "That aside, I must say that your card playing sense is remarkable. I look forward to facing you in a duel one day." He offered a hand in friendship, "My name is Bastion Misawa. Pleasure to meet you."

_Leave me alone already. _My actions did not coincide with my frustrated thoughts, as I took the offered hand, albeit half-heartedly. I wasn't even actually looking directly at him as I did it. "Kaigen Kou. Kai is fine."

"A good name. Kaigen means 'enlightenment' doesn't it? I believe it is also a sacred ritual for the completion of a statue of Buddha."

_Aren't you the smart one? _I thought with barbed annoyance, "I guess."

Soon I was saved by an approaching faculty member who had probably been waiting at the base of the landing zone for the chopper to land. It was some random female teacher whose name I to this day cannot recall, even though I'm sure she gave it, "Welcome to Central Duel Academy, the most prestigious duel academy in the world. I'll lead you to the main hall where you will be given your dorm assignments and school issue PDAs. I would appreciate it if you followed me in an orderly fashion."

Bastion turned to me as the teacher turned and lead the way and we fell in step with the rest of the group. "Well, I suppose this is the moment of truth. We can talk more later."

"I guess."

Not long after setting out for the main hall, I was checked off of a list of incoming students and handed a simple red jacket with a white trim, gray pants, and a black shirt along with the aforementioned PDA. The pants and shirt seemed a common theme between dorms, and the jackets were mostly identical except in color. Some of the blue dorm were wearing longer jackets, indicating elite status, as the teachers all wore similar ones.

All I had was a backpack for luggage, so I just changed in a nearby bathroom and headed into the auditorium, stepping in line with the other Slifer Reds. According to all the information I had seen on the school, I was in the lowest-ranked dorm. It made sense considering I'd lost my duel. I didn't mind it to be honest. For one, working up from the bottom would make things interesting, plus there was another thing that would probably come up at some point and become an issue if I was in any other dorm. It was the fact that I was related to a certain someone in high places.

A big screen that was on one side of the room lit up once everyone was in place and a jolly bald man with a goatee and a big smile appeared on it. I raised my collar to conceal my face from any glances my way and prayed that nobody would notice any family resemblance I had to my uncle.

"Good morning and welcome my students! I'm Chancellor Shepard, the head of this school, and you are the best and brightest young duelists in the world." his smile got even bigger, "Now please, get yourselves settled in to your assigned dorms. I think you'll find them quite comfortable, depending upon how you ranked of course! Ha-ha-ho-ho-ho!"

_What was funny? Moron._ I rolled my eyes.

Once the short and quite over-hyped announcement was made; we were given a brief tutorial on how to use the duel radar built into their PDAs to find opponents and a quick overview of the standard functions like e-mail and data management. I'd already figured all that out on my on and used the handy Duelist Info section to make some notes on what I had learned about the professor that had defeated me. The school network had even more information, including the contact information that students could use to consult her, her exact position at the school, and some things I already knew. For example it said her deck was built around dark fairy monsters called Fallen Angels, which were called Darklords back in the United States. That strange 'dual monster' fairy didn't seem a part of the archetype though. It was probably just in her deck for the fact it was level four with decent attack points and was the right type and attribute. The effect probably didn't hurt either, but seemed sort of impractical. It was strong, but I imagined it was something that required a lot of work and special circumstances.

"Come on, Kai, we've been dismissed." Syrus snapped me out of my thoughts, Jaden being his usual jovial self behind him, but not speaking up.

"Oh, sorry." I closed the function on my PDA and looked to the pair, "Have you guys checked the map yet? I don't have much luggage but I should get settled in soon."

Jaden waved off the idea, "Don't you worry about that. A few of the trainee teachers were on luggage duty."

Syrus seemed to be in on that little fact too, "You didn't wonder why they had us check in our bags too?"

I twitched a little at the thought of strangers handling my things, but it's not like I actually had anything important inside. I was never the type to have 'prized possessions'. "Alright... I guess I'll just check in on that and get unpacked."

I used the map function to locate the Slifer Dorms, and noted with the radar that a good number of duelists were already there. The posted schedule said there was going to be some 'time to explore', then a welcome dinner. Going over the information, I idly walked out of the hall and towards the entrance.

I didn't notice that the two of them followed me until Jaden said something, "You can do that later, right? We just got here. Don't you wanna look around?"

"Um..." I tensed. It was then that I spotted Bastion waiting outside, adjusting the sleeves of his yellow jacket with his usual precision. The thing might as well have been taped in place.

He was probably waiting to see what dorm I was in, so I decided to get his disappointment out of my way and avoid the two friendly Slifers in one fell swoop. If I was lucky he wouldn't talk to me again after finding out I was in a lower dorm. "Oh hey, Nisawa, I see you got into Ra Yellow."

"It's Misawa, with an M." said the Ra, slightly annoyed, "I'm surprised to see you in Slifer, you seemed so knowledgeable and skilled. Perhaps you had test anxiety on the written section?"

Odd, he didn't seem to care that I was a Slifer, "Something like that."

There was a brief but awkward silence"You don't talk much do you?"

"Not really." I was too busy wondering why the heck he still wanted to be my friend. _What the heck is up with these people?_

"To each his own as they say." Bastion shrugged, "Changing the subject, are you looking forward to the coming year as much as I am?"

I wasn't totally sure how I felt right then, which was odd...

"Hey ya, Bastion! You in red dorm too?" I turned to see Jaden and Syrus had not fallen behind that far.

Bastion motioned to his jacket, "Let's see, yellow sleeves, yellow buttons...nope, don't think so."

Jaden suddenly came to a realization, "Oh so that's why me and Syrus are in red!"

"Please don't tell me you're just figuring that out?"

Jaden got all stuffy, "So what? You ever think I might be color blind?"

"No, are you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. He just mentioned the color of his jacket. He wouldn't know it if he was."

"No foolin' you, huh Kai?" Jaden laughed, "It's too bad we aren't all in the same dorm, but at least you and Syrus are with me. We can be dorm buddies."

"You do know that Slifer is the lowest ranked dorm, right?" I said, annoyed at the muffin-headed duelist.

Syrus didn't seem to know, "What? Really?"

"Not that it matters, but yeah. Slifer's the bottom, Ra Yellow is next up, and blue's the top."

Syrus slumped his shoulders and hung his head low, "Ah, man."

I sighed, the poor little guy was probably beating himself up for performing so poorly. I could tell he was bright, but for whatever reason he'd just messed up when it mattered, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you can work you're way up in the ranks. When you fall, learn why and you'll trip less. You're never truly beaten if you learn from a defeat."

"Kai's right, Sy, what really matters is the duels. Getting your game on and having fun getting better." Jaden gave his friend a reassuring pat on the back and smiled. It wasn't quite what I'd meant, but it was close enough.

I fully intended to part ways with the lot of them right then and there as the three of them talked among themselves, but Jaden had other plans. The conversion quickly came back to include me again, "So you guys wanna join us for some exploration? We're gonna take a look around the island."

I held back a sigh, "Sure. I might as well come with you."

Bastion shook his head, "I still haven't unpacked yet, and I want to get that done before that dinner. I'm afraid I'll have to pass."

Jaden was disappointed, but cool about it, "Too bad. Well, we'll walk you there. That way we can get some sight-seeing in along the way."

"That's fine by me. Perhaps we can discuss you're match with Professor Crowler."

Somehow, once we reached the Ra Yellow dorm Bastion was able to excuse himself and escape in a feat of minor social grace that seemed beyond my feeble skills. I kicked myself for not being able to do the same. I was stuck with the muffinhead and his bluenette admirer. We had a wonderful time too, but I'll spare you the details of our thrilling day of getting strange looks at the simple but comfortable and stylish yellow building and getting mocked by random students outside the palace-like blue dorm then forced to leave. A lot of ridicule just for being Slifers. There was only a little extra luck when were found ourselves getting stopped at another blue palace by a harsh female voice.

Come to think of it, that was when I met Alexis. "What are you three doing here? It looks very suspicious if you ask me."

We turned away from our inspection of the dorm in front of us and spotted an unquestionably beautiful girl. No, that word doesn't quite fit. Something about the way she carried herself, back straight and feet firmly planted in place, eyes full of strength and defiance, that made it not the right word. She looked good mind you, but she also looked like she would, and could, destroy us if we truly deserved it.

"Suspicious? Who's suspicious?" Jaden questioned, legitimately confused.

The girl raised an eyebrow, "You are. This is the girls dorm you know. For girls."

I spoke up, "We didn't know. We just got here not long ago and were looking around."

Suddenly she recognized us, "Oh, that's right. I remember you two from the exams. You're freshmen. I guess I can forgive you this time."

"Right, thanks for understanding," strangely, without even thinking about it, I extended my hand in friendship, "I'm Kaigen Kou by the way, Kai is fine."

Taking my hand, she smiled, "I'm Alexis Rhodes."

Jaden waved, "Nice to meet you, I'm Jaden Yuki. This here is Syrus."

Alexis nodded, her stern exterior totally gone. The strength was still there, but she wasn't anywhere near as guarded, "Right. You guys should get going though. It's almost time for the welcome parties at each dorm. You don't wanna be late do you?"

Jaden went wide-eyed, "Really? It's that late?"

Syrus checked his watch, "If we don't hurry there won't be any food left!"

"That'd be a tragedy!" with that, the muffinhead ran off, and a startled Syrus took off after them.

I shook my head and sighed, looking to Alexis, "Where do that get that energy I wonder?"

"Oh well, takes all kinds I guess. Seems like a fun pair to hang out with." she seemed to share my amusement.

Shrugging, I rechecked the route to the red dorm on my PDA, "I suppose. So far all they've done is tire me out."

"You sound like a old man."

"Yeah, I really do. If I had a lawn I'd probably spend half my day telling them to keep off of it." we both chuckled lightly at that one, "Well anyway, talk to you later."

"Yeah, see you around." Alexis went back towards her dorm and I started off towards my own.

It took me a minute to realize what had just happened, _Wait... did I just make a friend? What the...?_

I ended up making it just in time for the start of the formalities, coming in to find that Jaden and Syrus had found a place where we could sit together, my seat facing the door and my back towards the kitchen. Maybe I was being too nice to them or something. They seemed totally insistent on being my friend, even though I barely spoke when I was around them. It was annoying sure, but not enough to bother telling them off or anything. Since I was apparently going to make friends whether I liked it or not, I supposed I could do worse. I was still perplexed about the situation though. I wasn't entirely sure how or why I'd made friends with Alexis, or why I didn't resist the friendship of the two Slifers more. I couldn't figure out why I was less stand-offish than before. I mean, sure I was still a bit anti-social, but I wasn't as dismissive. You'd have to know the me from before better to notice I suppose.

Anyway, I had only been seated for a moment when the others looked to the kitchen door. It was clear the headmaster was coming out. He was a wiry man with a strange face, not that he was ugly. In fact, he probably could be considered somewhat handsome. It was more like it was hard to tell if his face was cat-like or snake-like. It was the face of a person that could either be a nice and loyal guy or a manipulative traitor. The guy was hard to read and that bugged me. Also, he was apparently a teacher, even though he wore dress clothes with no jacket and the sleeves rolled up rather than the standard uniform I had seen.

"Greetings students, I am Professor Lyman Banner. I am the headmaster here for second years and up. The freshman headmaster, Professor Midori Hibiki, is just finishing up some extra side dishes in the kitchen. While we wait, how about we start by introducing ourselves and saying something about us. I'll start. You know my name, and I am an avid scholar of alchemy, so I use that talent to teach both alchemy and the more conventional chemistry. I also cover some of the less conventional duel strategies."

The other students went through the motions as they were pointed to. I ignored most of them, simply because I didn't give a crap about anyone in the dorm. I only paid enough attention to not miss my turn when it came up. More pressing to me was the strange, albeit slight change in my outlook. It was as if something had put a crack in my shell. I was thinking on it so hard that I barely heard the clinking of plates in the kitchen as Banner called my name. I somewhat subconsciously concluded that the other headmaster, Professor Hibiki, would be coming out of the kitchen, but didn't find such information worth fully processing.

When I stood and turned though, there was a small repeat of what had come over me when I first laid eyes on the woman. Every detail of the experience flowed over me like a wave. The illusory flash was more of a radiance this time, her smile just as devastating as it had been before. The slight swish of her flowing hair as she turned slightly on her way in the room might as well have be accompanied by sparkles. Even the slight weariness from working in the kitchen simply added to the majesty. It was like a goddess had come to Earth. No mortal being could possibly be that soul-obliteratingly beautiful. Every cell in my body wanted to jump up and down and shout "WOOHOO!"

I nearly drifted off into that strange fantasy with the field of flowers again, but obviously I was staring longer than I thought. Banner snapped me out of it by clearing his throat and speaking up, "Mr. Kou, any time now would be good."

Fortunately, the goddess didn't seem to notice and the chuckles of the other students were too irrelevant to pay any mind to.

"Oh um...yes...hello... um, I'm Kaigen Kou, 17 years old. I was born in Dice City, but lived in America with my foster mom for most of my life. That's really all there is to me. To be quite honest I'm a pretty simple fellow."

I sat down hard, too overwhelmed to really have any truly coherent thought. I'm truly astounded I'd been able to speak at all without it sounding like my tongue had gone numb. The urge to frolic over a field of daisies was overwhelming and I wasn't so stupid that I didn't know what was up. Basically, I was more sprung than a rocket-powered jackrabbit.

Jaden probably grinned or raised an eyebrow or some other expression fitting the moment, but I was still too dumbstruck to compute much of anything, "What's wrong, Kai" You bad with public-speaking?"

"Y-yeah." Not really. A little maybe, but not any more than a normal person.

The goddess started introducing herself, her voice filled with happiness and as beautiful as a thousand angel choir. I dare not turn again to look at her. Surely she would be able to read the expression of adoration on my face. It took all my strength right then to resist composing cheesy poetry. "Hello, I'm the freshman headmaster, Professor Midori Hibiki. I'm not much of a stickler for titles and I know we have at least one student here that wasn't raised in Japan; so Ms. Hibiki, Hibiki-san, Hibiki-sensei, any permutation is fine. I teach Math, some of the cultural classes, and a few of the classes about effect monsters. I hope we all get along swimmingly."

I heard a whisper from some nearby students that were probably too far away for the teachers to hear them "Hey, you hear that? She said _Miss_ Hibiki."

"Yeah, awesome! She's not married. You think I have a chance?"

"Get real man."

"Oh come on, that would be like making a pass at my big sister."

"I've seen your big sister. I'd make a pass at her too."

"Hey! Watch it!"

It took some effort to not stand up right then and shout at them that they couldn't have her, that she was mine. Thankfully, I had mostly regained my senses at that point. Plus Professor Banner chose that moment to finish the formalities, "Well, now that we all know each other, once the rest of the meal is served we can go ahead and dig in."

As the rest of the room started eating, I noticed that Jaden had already finished what food was already in front of him, and for the life of me couldn't recall when he had eaten it. Was he that fast or had he eaten when I was daydreaming? Not that it really mattered, but when the side dishes were served I intended to find out. For no reason, I made a mental note to keep an eye on the possible eating prodigy.

A hand, a very nice-looking hand, came into my field of view, reaching past me to put a plate in front of Jaden, then Syrus, then me. I recklessly glanced at the owner of that arm as she stood up again and she smiled gently at me. Even though that smile was one she would have given to any student, seeing it again so soon left me unable to say anything. I had to wonder if the sunrise would ever seem beautiful again, after seeing what beauty truly looking like. Perhaps I would never enjoy such poetic things again. Maybe seeing her would make everything look ugly by comparison. In that moment I didn't really mind though. Living in the deepest pits of hell would be heaven if I could still look at Midori Hibiki.

Did I mention I was more sprung than a caffeine junkie on a pogo-stick? Actually, I was starting to think I'd gone completely out of my mind.

"Mr. Kou, pardon my arrogance but you seem a bit intimidated." she said, breaking into my thoughts. She seemed as amused by that fact as she was averse to the idea, "I hope I didn't leave you with a negative impression before."

"What? No." I said, uncomfortably looking away, "Nothing like that. It's just I'm not good with dealing with people I don't know well."

The professor seemed intrigued, "Hm. I was thinking this again when you had trouble speaking, but it's strange that you're so shy. Before we dueled I figured you for a loner, but you're surprisingly shy."

"Um..." _SAY SOMETHING! REPLY! YOU LOOK LIKE A DORK!_ I kept kicking myself mentally, trying to figure out how to reply. I'd never been much for conversation before and had no idea what I was supposed to say, "Aren't most, if not all, loners inherently shy?"

"I suppose." she agreed, then casually changed topics, "Anyway, it's a pleasure to see you again. The same goes for you, Jaden."

I looked at Jaden, who had somehow already finished the plate of side dishes that Hibiki-sensei had only moments before had set down, "You know the professor, Jaden?"

He smiled a bit, "Yeah, I met Professor Hibiki a long time ago when I was in the hospital for a broken leg. Her brother taught me the game."

She nodded, "I even bought Jaden here his first duel disk."

Jaden smiled at the memory, "I still have that one in my closet at home. It's a precious keepsake even if it's too small for me now."

"Too small?" Hibiki-sensei placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair, teasingly, "Strange, you don't seem any taller."

Brushing the hand away, Jaden fixed his hair back with his hands, "Professor! Don't tease me like that, sheesh! I'm not a little kid anymore."

"You'll always be little to me. At least until you prove otherwise."

Jaden grinned big, "Well I beat that Professor Crowler didn't I?"

A few Slifers who were from different exam sessions looked at our table skeptically at that. Hibiki-sensei continued the conversation regardless, "That was impressive, but don't get too big of a head about it. Kaigen here actually came very close to beating me."

I jumped slightly at being mentioned suddenly, "That was... I mean..." What was I supposed to say?

Jaden cut me off, standing suddenly with a look of amazement on his face, "Really? I heard you dueled and figured you did pretty good, but you nearly won?"

"N-not-really. I mean-"

Hibiki-sensei put a hand on my shoulder, cutting me off with a smile, "I give credit where credit is due, Kaigen. You were taking advantage of the format sure, and it was only 4000 life, but the fact is you did nearly win."

"Whoa." Jaden was amazed, "Even I can't hold a candle to Professor Hibiki. Now I really can't wait to duel you!"

Syrus, who had been as out of place in the exchange as I was, finally spoke up, "I have to see that duel. That would be awesome."

"Um... sure?"

Hibiki-sensei chuckled, as if one of her little brothers was being cute, "Hey, calm down. Kaigen hasn't even started eating yet."

Jaden looked at my plate and realized she was right, "Oh, sorry. I can wait I guess."

"You really haven't changed a bit, Jaden." Midori noted happily.

It had been sinking in for the past few moments, but right then it all finally clicked and I realized that the professor was trying the make sure I was making friends. She knew Jaden well enough to bait him into furthering the relationship with a duel. Somehow, even though teachers had tried to set me up in friendships before, it didn't feel condescending at all. It was, however, and testament to how sprung I was that in that moment I wanted to make friend mostly just to please Hibiki-sensei. It solved the mystery about what had caused the crack in my shell that I was brooding over before. I had gotten my first crush.

I looked over at Jaden, "Whenever you want to throw down, I'm up for it. I want to see this professor-defeating strength of yours too."

Jaden sprang up, all but flying out the roof and landing outside. Seriously, the kid had lots of energy, "Great! Let's go!"

Hibiki-sensei glared gently, "Jaden."

He immediately sat down, the suddenness was actually pretty comical, "Right! Food! My bad!"

Despite myself, I chuckled and stood up, "It's fine. I actually don't like eating in crowds anyway. Let's go."

Hibiki-sensei, pleased with the small success, got up as well, picking up my untouched plate, "I'll wrap this up for later then. When you get back I'll heat it up for you."

Right then I could definitely see how some people would not be able to get past the sisterly aspect of her personality. Actually it was almost motherly, but I just couldn't think of her as my sister or mother, "T-thanks."

"It's nothing. Have fun, but be back soon, the curfew is in an hour." her warm smile, though only a small one, sent my heart a flutter. Just add that to the list of uncharacteristic feelings she'd given me, right next to the desire to frolic through a meadow.

Boy did I ever want to frolic through a meadow right then...

Outside the dorm there was a large patch of dirt that I imagined was normally set aside for Slifer duels or maybe gatherings like picnics. It wasn't fancy. I assumed it was the worst of the duel fields due to our standings, and I was shortly proven right.

Jaden either had the same impression or wasn't aware the patch of dirt was the dorm's official duel field, "I hear they have a really awesome duel arena in the main building. Since this is gonna be epic, we should do it on the greatest possible stage!"

"I think you're overselling this a little, Jaden."

"Of course I'm not, Kai. Let's do this right! The main field should still be open." and with that, the guy was off, running towards his goal like he was headed for a candy shop or something.

Syrus was quick to follow, "Wait for me, Jaden! I want to see this too!"

I could only sigh and follow. I mean, wasn't the entire point of duel disks to remove the need for a duel field? If there wasn't going to be a crowd we could technically duel anywhere.

It turned out there was going to be a crowd though. A small, but hostile crowd.

The field itself was much grander than ours, but that really wasn't saying much considering ours was literally made of dirt. It wasn't actually all that impressive, it boiled down to being little more than a fancy gym with a duel field instead of a basketball court. I didn't really see the point in the multitude of wires leading out of the slightly raised field either. All the information the only electronic part of the duel field needed (the score board) could easily be sent to it wirelessly by the duel disks. Perhaps it's for audio equipment.

"Too cool..." Jaden was mystified for some reason, "Wow... this is a the sweetest duel arena I've ever seen!"

I looked to the excitable teen, "I hate to use a line twice, but I think you're overselling this a little, Jaden. It's just a duel field."

"Whe-"

A deep voice cut Jaden off, "What are you Slifer rejects doing in here?"

Glancing over, I spotted a tall, tanned guy with spiky brown hair that had apparently been talking with a smaller guy wearing oddly small glasses and sporting hair that... took me off guard. If you think back to the fact that I was used to Syrus indescribable hair style, then that's a really big claim.

Jaden spoke up as I struggled with the sight, "What? We're students here to."

"This is Obelisk territory." the smaller guy with the hair scoffed arrogantly.

The bigger guy accented the point by pointing behind us, "Yeah, check out the crest."

A quick look revealed a metal plate bearing the image of Obelisk the Tormentor on it. At least their dorm was aptly named.

The larger tormentor continued, "This place isn't fit for your kind."

Syrus started backing away, "Sorry, um... we didn't know. We'll leave right away."

Jaden grinned, then turned back from the symbol to look at the pair, "We don't have to leave. Now if one of you guys would be willing to duel me with the loser having to take off... I mean, I could be kinda like a guest duelist!"

The guy with the hair went wide-eyed in recognition, "Wait, a second. You're the guy that beat Professor Crowler!"

"Guilty as ch-"

"I'm sorry," I blurted out suddenly, derailing the scene by motioning somewhat comically at the guy with _that hair,_ "but what the heck is up with that hair-style? I mean... Dear god! That is the stupidest haircut I've ever seen in my entire life and that's really saying something considering I'm with this guy." I pointed to Syrus.

"Hey!" the little guy and the guy I was insulting both protested in unison, "My hair isn't _that_ bad!"

I motioned again, "Look at it! He looks like a poor imitation of the Artist Formerly Known as Prince!"

"Why I oughta!"

The bigger guy took his turn recognizing folks, "You! You're the one that dueled Professor Hibiki! HA! You should try coming back and talking when you can actually win a duel. Right Torimaki? "

The hair guy saw his chance at revenge, "I don't know, Mototani. I mean, he nearly won. Maybe Professor Hibiki isn't as strong as they say. I mean, she's headmaster of the Slifers. Queen of the filth pile."

Jaden of course took offense at the insult to his friend, "Hey! Take that back right now!"

I grabbed his shoulder, playing it cool even though I was glaring a hole through Torimaki, "Now, Jaden, that was actually a pretty good jab. Not masterful, but he managed to not only insult me, our whole dorm, and Hibiki-sensei, but did it in such as way that technically, because I lost to her, insults me a grand total of three times. A multi-tiered insult."

Torimaki grinned.

"I doubt his dueling's even on one tier though, much less a low one."

Torimaki started to lunge at me, but another new voice – this one a bit gruff and barbed with frustration – broke in, "Everybody talks too much."

We all turned to the source, a teenager around Jaden's size and age with sweeping black hair that went a good distance in a bit of organized chaos.

Torimaki was surprised at the interruption, "Manjoume-san! Wha-"

"If you are going to talk big, don't follow it up by letting Slifers talk down to you like that. We're the elite of Central Duel Academy for god's sake! If they talk flak about you, silence them with the duel they want so badly and show them their place!"

I gave Torimaki a wry smile, "You should listen to him, and that includes hair tips. Since somehow you still have the ugliest hair in the entire room."

"You-"

"I'd love a duel, thank you for asking." I cut him off smugly.

"You. Are. ON!" the teen glared, "Mototani! Let's send both these losers packing here and know."

"There's only one field." the larger guy was clearly the dumber one.

"A tag duel!"

"Now hang on a second!" I protested. "I've never tag dueled before! Frankly I don't even want to-"

"What? Are you backing down"

Jaden stepped up, "Of course he isn't. Right, Kai?"

I readied my disk, "If that's how you want to play; then I don't have much choice. Jaden."

"Yeah?"

"I'll go first. I don't know what kind of deck you use because I never saw your duel, but I'll clear your way."

"Got it. I won't let you down!"

Stepping onto the field, the duel began, "Duel!"

Jaden and Kaigen: 8000 vs Mototani and Torimaki: 8000

The duel system randomly selected one team to go first, the light on the top of my disk blinking to indicate it was my move, "My draw."

"Let's see what you've got, Slacker!" Mototani was apparently the one leading the way for his team.

I took as much time looking at the postures and subtle mannerisms of the pair as I did my starting hand. Thankfully, the cards matched the results of my analysis. "I set a monster, then two cards face down." I was careful with my placement, and precise with my planning.

The big guy drew to being his turn, which went much like I expected. His plays started with a small mistake, "I set a monster, then activate the spell Mystical Space Typhoon to take out the face-down on my right!"

"Bad play, Mototani." I extended my hand, "I activate it in response, discarding a card to destroy your set monster with Raigeki Break!"

A bolt of lightning shot out from the activating trap and struck his set monster, a very nasty defensive card. Running into that meant taking double the normal damage if you didn't have more attack than its hefty 2000 defense. Its owner recoiled from the loss, "Gah!"

"If you're gonna go after my cards, make sure to not give them a target first."

"Y-you little... BAH! I set two face-downs and end my turn."

The turn indicator went to Jaden so I took a step back as he stepped up, "He's a defensive player, Jaden, that trap of his is probably bad news, but I left a couple of presents for you."

"Thanks." the Slifer drew and checked the cards I left him with. "Nice! Solid hand-off, buddy! I'll start off by laying down two face-downs and then summoning Elemental Hero Sparkman!" a figured in a blue armored bodysuit with a golden chest-plate appeared in a flash of lightning, "Next I flip Kai's Morphing Jar!"

As the creepy jar monster came into view I explained the effect, "Each active player discards their entire hand and then draws five cards." Both sides did so, "Even though this refreshes your hand, it will be a full turn before you benefit, while we benefit right now."

Jaden gave me a thumbs up, "Right now I'm aiming for a direct attack to your life points! Sparkman leads the way!"

"Guess again!" Mototani reached for the troublesome face-down as Jaden's Hero monster launched a bolt of electricity at him, making another rookie error in an attempt at gaining an early lead, "I'm hitting you with a Mirror Force! All your attack position monsters are toast!"

The bolt bounced of a shield and shattered every monster on Jaden's field. He was all laughs about it though, and even I was smiling. At Jaden's prompting I activated the face-down I'd left him, "I activate Soul Rope by paying 1000 life points. Since one of our monsters was destroyed, Jaden can special summon a level 4 or lower monster from his deck!"

"I call out Elemental Hero Stratos!" another Hero came out, yanked from the deck by a tether coming out of my trap. It looked a bit like Sparkman, but without golden parts and with a flight pack on, "He has a sweet power that lets me search out another E-Hero in my deck and bring it to my hand. I choose Elemental Hero Clayman!"

I pointed at Mototani, "Also, it's still the battle phase."

Jaden nodded to me and then signaled to attack, "Elemental Hero Stratos attacks directly!"

The two propellers on Stratos' pack flared up and created two cyclones that pelted its target for a decent 1800 points of damage. We'd paid some life, but it gave us an edge.

Jaden & Kaigen: 7000 vs Mototani & Torimaki: 6200

"I put one more face-down on my field and that's all for my turn." Jaden turned back to give me a high five and I was caught up enough in the moment to go along with it. Something about the energy he had was contagious.

Torimaki almost growled at his partner, "What the heck are you doing? That was terrible!"

"I couldn't help it!"

Sighing, the less stylish of the two (which is even graver an insult looking at Mototani) drew a card and got started, "I'll start by bringing out Luster Dragon! It's 1900 attack is enough to take out Stratos!"

Torimaki's sinister dragon made of sapphires took to the air and dove hungrily and Stratos, but Jaden had come prepared, "I activate Hero Barrier!" a gadget flew out from the card erecting a protective field in front of Stratos, knocking the dragon aside, "It negates one attack made against an Elemental Hero monster!"

"Dang!"

Mototani huffed, "What was that about my play being bad?"

"Quiet! At least I'm leaving you with a face-down to work with!" Torimaki set a card and ended his turn.

I grinned, it was probably a little malicious looking, "Thanks for telling me that the cards he set is useless and that yours is the one I should go after." I drew to start my turn as Torimaki was mentally kicking himself, "I was worried I might guess wrong." I played a Mystical Space Typhoon of my own that had been in my starting hand.

Torimaki was livid, "Dangit! You-"

Glancing at my hand... I didn't have anything big enough to take out Luster Dragon...

Jaden picked up on my hesitation, "Kai, I left you a present!"

I checked the second card he had set and smiled, "I activate Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and then discarding two." I placed my hand to the top of my deck and for some reason glanced at Jaden, who fist-pumped to cheer me on.

Right before I was about to draw, some kind of chime sounded over the PA system as an alarm sounded on my PDA. It was only a few minutes before curfew, a voice over the PA system elaborated, "Attention all students, it is time to head back to your dorms. Do so promptly and put all duels in progress on hold. After hours dueling is strictly prohibited. That is all."

Mototani was apparently as upset as I was, "You mean we gotta back off? We just gotta let them punk us like that? We were turning this around! He didn't have anything else!"

I scoffed at the notion, "Are you kidding?"

In the stands, Manjoume stood and started to leave, "This is pointless. I've seen all I needed."

Torimaki was shocked, "But, Boss-"

Without even bothering to turn, the teen replied, "I could see Yuki's hand from my seat. It doesn't matter what Kou did. Next turn he would've taken you two apart."

"You can't be serious!"

The Obelisk resumed his departure, "I'm leaving. I don't plan on getting detention for wasting my time."

The two goons took the time to cast a glare and then hurried to catch up with their boss. I went over to look at Jaden's hand. I didn't know the full spectrum of what his deck could do, but there was a Polymerization spell, enough monsters to be possible material, and 'Hero Bond' something that special summoned several E-Heroes from his hand. I noted that his other face down was Call of the Haunted, which could have brought back his Sparkman, anything I discarded for Graceful Charity, or anything he used to fusion summon.

"This... this is a good hand."

Jaden laughed, "Yeah, I'm kinda bummed I didn't get to use it! Let's see what you would've drawn." He reached to my deck and pulled the top three cards of my deck, then looked at them, "Sweet! We had it even better than I thought!"

I took the three cards. 'The Sanctuary in the Sky', 'Neo-Parshath, the Sky Paladin', and Airknight Parshath'. "If I'd discarded Airknight Parshath and brought it back with Call of the Haunted..."

"You could have played your ace monster right then!"

"Wow... that's a lucky draw right there."

Jaden shook his head, "Nothing lucky about it. Our decks just knew how badly we wanted to win. That's all it was." he gave me a friendly punch in the shoulder and started out, "Let's go, I don't want detention either. Plus Professor Hibiki has a disappointed glare that cold burn through steel. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Syrus, who I'd nearly forgotten about, quickly followed, "Wait for me. I'm pretty sure I don't want to find that out for myself."

I paused for a second before joining them, turning over the thoughts in my head, _Our decks did it huh? He sounds like one of those people from those stories about my dad..._ Looking in Jaden direction, I then took a long look at my deck, _This school could be a lot more interesting than I thought._

Next Chapter: A Key Difference


End file.
